Live Antarctica Trip Report

[moisheyb]

Wow very nice tr!!
Just in time to remember asarah bteves!

[Yehoshua]

Very nice ending to a wonderful TR. Thank you for sharing!!

[Moshe123]

Amazing!!

[Deal Guy]

Very nice read!

[ushdadude]

did you hit the call button?

[Something Fishy]

did you hit the call button?

Didn't bother

[Something Fishy]

Trip Summary

Kosher Horizons Antarctica by the numbers:

Planning time: Nearly 2 years
Emails to One Ocean Expeditions: 1804
Food and drinks loaded: ~3 tons
Meals prepared: 1989
Bottles of wine drank: 246
Chanukah candles lit: 396


Group size: 51
Guests from: 12 cities on 4 continents


Trip length (mine): 16 days
Trip length (group): 12 days
Banged head (mine): 3708 times (possibly more but I'm a bit hazy on that)


Significant destinations visited: 16

1	Buenos Aires	Argentina
2	Ushuaia	Argentina
3	Tierra del Fuego National Park	Argentina
4	Beagle Channel	Argentina/Chile
5	Stanley	Falkland Islands
6	Gypsy Cove	Falkland Islands
7	Whalebone Cove	Falkland Islands
8	Drake Passage	Southern Ocean
9	Penguin Island	South Shetlands
10	Cuverville Island	Antarctica
11	Wilhelmina Bay	Antarctica
12	Paradise Harbor	Antarctica
13	Almirante Brown Base (Argentina)	Antarctica
14	Waterboat Point	Antarctica
15	González Videla Base (Chile)	Antarctica
16	Gerlache Strait	Antarctica

Passport stamps collected: 5

Argentina	Buenos Aires	Immigration - Entry
Argentina	Fin del Mundo	Souvenir
Falkland Islands	Stanley	Immigration - Visit
Chilean Antarctic Territory	González Videla Base	Immigration - Visit
Argentina	Buenos Aires	Immigration - Exit

Miles flown (personally): 13,869

PHL-MIA-EZE AA J 763, AA F 77W
AEP-USH-AEP LA Y+ 320, AR F 738
EZE-MIA-EWR AA J 77W, AA F 738




Miles sailed: 2640




Wildlife species seen: 50
Birds: 44
Marine mammals: 6

Wildlife numbers seen: ~26263
Birds: ~26236
Marine mammals: 27

Birds:

#	Family	Species	Number
1	Albatross	Black-Browed Albatross	~100
2	Albatross	Gray-Headed Albatross	1
3	Albatross	Light-Mantled Sooty Albatross	~50
4	Albatross	Wandering Albatross	1
5	Caracras	Chimango Caracara	1
6	Cinclodes	Dark-Bellied Cinclodes	1
7	Cormorants	Antarctic Shag	53
8	Cormorants	Imperial Shag	1
9	Cormorants	Rock Shag	21
10	Dotterels	Rufous-Chested Dotterel	2
11	Ducks	Crested Duck	4
12	Ducks	Falklands Flightless Steamer Duck	2
13	Ducks	Flying Steamer Duck	1
14	Finches	Gray-Hooded Sierra-Finch	1
15	Geese	Kelp Goose	1
16	Geese	Ruddy-Headed Goose	1
17	Geese	Upland Goose	8
18	Grebes	Great Grebe	1
19	Ground-Tyrants	Dark-Faced Ground-Tyrant	3
20	Gulls	Dolphin Gull	3
21	Gulls	Kelp Gull	5
22	Herons	Black-Crowned Night Heron	10
23	Meadowlarks	Long-Tailed Meadowlark	1
24	Oystercatchers	Magellanic Oystercatcher	1
25	Penguins	Adélie Penguin	4
26	Penguins	Chinstrap Penguin	~3000
27	Penguins	Gentoo Penguin	~22501
28	Penguins	Magellanic Penguin	~200
29	Petrels	Cape Petrel	~102
30	Petrels	Northern Giant-Petrel	1
31	Petrels	Southern Giant-Petrel	~100
32	Petrels	Wilson's Storm-Petrel	11
33	Pitpits	Correndera Pipit	1
34	Sheathbills	Pale-Faced (Snowy) Sheathbill	4
35	Siskins	Black-Chinned Siskin	3
36	Skuas	Brown Skua	5
37	Sparrows	Rufous-Collared Sparrow	1
38	Swallows	Chilean Swallow	1
39	Swans	Black-necked Swan	1
40	Terns	Antarctic Tern	20
41	Terns	Arctic Tern	5
42	Thrushes	Austral Thrush	1
43	Vultures	Turkey Vulture	1
44	Wrens	Grass Wren	1
		Total	~26236

Marine Mammals:

#	Family	Species	Number
1	Seals	Crabeater Seal	3
2	Seals	Southern Elephant Seal	4
3	Seals	Weddel Seal	4
4	Whales	Antarctic Minke Whale	1
5	Whales	Humpback Whale	13
6	Whales	Orca	2
		Total	27

For a more detailed wildlife list, check out the spreadsheet here.

[yelped]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-falklands-germany-idUSKBN29R2KB

[Something Fishy]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-falklands-germany-idUSKBN29R2KB

ALOL at the sequence of events here.

1. Lufthansa needs the ability to divert to Argentinean airports if needed on their one-off flight.
2. Argentina's airports are completely shut to international travel.
3. Lufthansa sweet-talks Argentina into getting what they want, by telling Argentina what they want to hear.
4. Argentina declares that this constitutes an official German recognition of their claims against Britain.

Talk about a pilpul .

[Something Fishy]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smartnews-science/king-penguin-captivates-world-its-rare-dandelion-colored-plumage-180977070/

Meh, been there, done that!

Here's an extremely rare sight: a white penguin. This is caused by leucism, similar to albinism:

(Yellow, white, iceberg, Goldberg)

[AsherO]

(Yellow, white, iceberg, Goldberg)

Don't you know that in Antarctica it's pronounced Coldberg?

[EliJelly]

Same causation but com'on, the yellow is striking! more eye-catching than bleached black.

[tavster]

https://onemileatatime.com/icelandair-flying-to-antarctica/